American Public Works Association

2012 International Congress & Exposition

August 26-29, 2012, Anaheim, California

Call for Presentations Closed

No matter your role in public works, there is something for everyone at APWA’s International Congress & Exposition. Public works professionals from both the public and private sectors attend year after year to stay up-to-date on emerging trends, and innovative practices and strategies. The exhibit floor attracts approximately 300 companies who come to demonstrate their state-of-the-art products and services.

Speakers at APWA’s Congress are people like you who have met the challenge of managing public works projects and organizations. They view speaking at Congress as a chance to advance their careers and to invest in the future of the public works profession by sharing what they know.

What topics are we looking for? (Don’t feel limited by these topic suggestions; out-of-the box thinking is encouraged)

APWA’s Congress provides education about all public works disciplines:

Submission Guidelines:

Learning Objectives: All proposals must include three (3) learning objectives that indicate exactly how the attendee will benefit from the presentation. Instructions for developing appropriate learning objectives are included on the online form.

Session Length: Please indicate the expected length of your presentation (50, 75, 90, 120 minutes). APWA will try to allocate your requested number of minutes, however due to space limitations and time constraints, we may be asking you to shorten your presentation or perhaps to combine your presentation with similar-themed submissions into a longer time block.

Scheduling: Due to the complexity of determining topic placement, we are unable to accommodate specific date and time requests. Make sure that your proposal speakers are available to present on any day and time beginning at 8:30 a.m. on Sunday, August 26, 2012 and through the afternoon of Wednesday, August 29, 2012.

No Sales-pitches Please: Direct promotions of products, services, or monetary self-interest are not appropriate education sessions. APWA members are traditionally vocal in their displeasure with sessions that appear to be sales presentations or promotions. APWA audiences prefer sessions that present case studies from the user perspective.

Registration and travel expenses: Speakers at APWA’s International Congress & Exposition are also considered attendees of the event and are expected to pay their own travel expenses and the appropriate member or non-member registration fee. If you plan to only attend on the day of your presentation, you may qualify for a complimentary single-day registration.

Paid Professional Trainers and Speakers are welcome to use the Online Submission Form, but be sure to check the “paid speaker” box.

How Are Presentations Selected?

All submissions are reviewed and evaluated by a committee of public works professionals representing various public works disciplines. The evaluation process is competitive based on these criteria: (1) Relevance and Clarity (learning objectives are clearly stated using active verbs indicating exactly what the benefit would be to the learners); (2) Practical Application (presentation provides take-away knowledge material that can used by the learners in their day-to-day work settings); (3) Leading-edge (presentation addresses critical issues, emerging trends, innovative methods and technologies); (4) Balance (the review committee will review for balance to ensure that all of the public works disciplines have a representative number of presentations and that no one speaker or organization is disproportionately represented.)